Patrick is expected to be asked whether DiMasi pressured him or his administration to approve a software contract in 2007.
Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, left, and Gov. Deval Patrick, right.BOSTON — Federal prosecutors plan to call Gov. Deval Patrick to testify on Friday in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and two associates.
The U.S. Attorney's office says Judge Mark Wolf was informed late Wednesday that the governor would be one of the government's witnesses on Friday.
Prosecutors told the judge in court earlier in the day that Patrick had cleared his schedule for Friday in anticipation of being called to testify. A spokesman for the governor said while he had not actually cleared his schedule for that day, he was prepared to testify whenever called.
Patrick is expected to be asked whether DiMasi pressured him or his administration to approve a software contract in 2007.
The governor has said there was no wrongdoing by his administration.
Patrick would be the first sitting governor to testify in a criminal trial since 1995, when then-Gov. William Weld testified in the influence-peddling trial of a state senator who was later acquitted.
At the trial on Wednesday, a onetime top official in Patrick's administration testified that she was repeatedly pressed by DiMasi to sign off on a multimillion dollar software contract.
Leslie Kirwan, who served as the state secretary of administration and finance, said at the federal corruption trial of DiMasi and two associates that DiMasi advocated for so-called performance management software during at least two Statehouse meetings and in a phone call in 2007, and that he also approached her on the subject during an unrelated event the two attended at Fenway Park.
While the state had earlier been authorized by the Legislature to spend $15 million for a performance management project, Kirwan testified that she did not not believe the state was ready at the time to purchase the software needed to implement the program.
Ultimately, Kirwan relented and signed the contract with the Cognos software firm, though it was later rescinded after questions were raised about the bidding process and the state inspector general launched an inquiry.
After approving the contract, which was negotiated down to $13 million, Kirwan recalled telling another state official that she hoped her decision would be viewed favorably by DiMasi.
"I expressed the hope that the speaker would be satisfied with the outcome and that he would help with another matter we were concerned with," Kirwan testified.
The other matter involved a dispute over the location of a new state data center in Springfield. A top lieutenant of DiMasi in the House, state Rep. Thomas Petrolati, had been advocating for a site other than one the administration supported.
DiMasi, lobbyist Richard McDonough and Richard Vitale, an accountant and close DiMasi friend, are charged with scheming to use the speaker's clout to steer two lucrative software contracts, worth a combined $17.5 million, to Cognos in exchange for kickbacks, with the then-speaker allegedly pocketing $65,000. All three men have pleaded not guilty.
Kirwan's objections to the contract led Joseph Lally, a former software salesman, to label Kirwan as a "rogue secretary" in an email to a Cognos official that was introduced by prosecutors as evidence in the trial. Lally has pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution last week.
DiMasi never mentioned Cognos by name in any of his discussions with her, Kirwan said.
Asked if she would have approved the contract had she known that DiMasi was receiving money that was being paid by Cognos to the then-speaker's law associate, Kirwan answered:
"I would not have approved the contract and I would have sought legal advice on what other steps to take."
Kirwan, who left state government in 2009 and is now a Harvard University dean, testified that performance management was a "goal" of the Patrick administration and that the governor had brought the subject up when he interviewed her for the post of Administration and Finance Secretary. She said, however, that it was not an immediate priority of the new administration after Patrick took office in January 2007.
Also Wednesday, an official with the Secretary of State's office testified that McDonough did not register as a lobbyist for Cognos in 2006, the year in which the company received its first state contract, also allegedly with DiMasi's help. The official said McDonough filed an amended registration two years later showing that he had in fact lobbied for Cognos in 2006.
McDonough's lawyer, Thomas Dreschler, objected to the evidence being presented to the jury, saying it was not relevant to the federal charges and would be prejudicial to his client.